Wise Faces Scrutiny Over Residency In PA Council Race

Faced with questions regarding the legitimacy of her residency as she tries to hold on to her Position 7 seat on the Port Arthur City Council, D. Kay Wise denied that she lives in another district and said she is the victim of “dirty politics” from her opponents.

“There’s no truth to that,” Wise said of allegations that she lives on 2670 Quiet Corral Ln. in the gated Dominion Court community that is located in Position 8, where long-time councilman Tom Henderson is the incumbent. “There’s a lot of things that people are bringing up that are not truthful, and they’ve got their reasons for doing them,” Wise said. But when asked what those reasons might be, the 40-year-old Wise said, “Honestly, I don’t know.”

In an effort to clarify the situation, late Wednesday night, Ray Montagne, who owns the home at 2670 Quiet Corral Ln, called The Examiner at the request of Wise and said that he and “Kay” as he refers to Mrs. Wise, had a handshake agreement for Wise’s son, Charles, a college student, to live at the house, as opposed to a written lease agreement. He said the handshake agreement was not something he’d normally do, but he wanted the flexibility to move back into the home if necessary. Montagne wouldn’t specify the rental amount and when asked whether or not Wise was staying at the house, he said “for all I know, she could be here 23 hours a day, I don’t know.”

He reiterated that he was not trying to deceive anyone and that her residency issues were of no concern to him. Rather when he rented the house to Wise’s son last June, (D. Wise pays the rent with either cashier’s checks or money orders according to Montagne) Montagne said he needed a renter quickly to move into the house and he took a chance on Wise’s son after she guaranteed that she’d be able to pay the rent.

According to her application for the Position 7 seat, Wise stated that her address is 735 Stilwell, which sits in Position 7. The home is owned by W.C. Wise, according to Wise and the Jefferson County Appraisal District. But in an email sent to the Examiner last week, it indicated among other things that Wise did not live at the Stilwell address and instead lived at the Quiet Corral location. Another email sent to the Examiner stated that police had been called to Quiet Corral on numerous occasions. The Examiner obtained three calls for service to the Port Arthur Police Department involving Wise since last September, and two of those complaints were made from the 2670 Quiet Corral address and Wise was listed as the complainant.

On Sep. 8, 2010, Wise called the police at 4:34 pm to report a possible burglary at the Quiet Corral residence, but instead it was her son, who according to the police log listed on the report, “showed up unexpectedly.”

On Dec. 31, 2010, Wise called the Port Arthur Police at 10:13 pm and gave her address as 2670 Quiet Corral Lane to report a disturbance between her and her estranged husband, Shad, who she’s been married to for over 20 years and separated from for the last 10, she said. According to the report, Wise indicated that the incident took place at Shad’s home, 3016 Alamo. That same night, Shad also called and indicated that “Dwanna Wise” had left his mother’s residence in a black Mercedes wearing pink pajamas driving towards Highway 69.

Wise said disagreements with her estranged husband have led to problems. “If you go a little bit deeper, you’ll probably find police reports at my sister’s house, at my mother’s, although I don’t stay there very much, she lives in a retirement thing,” she said. “If you’re going to pull police reports, make sure you get the whole story and be able to look at further areas of homes, where I’ve probably had to call the police,” Wise said. She added that several attempts to get back with her husband have led to differences between the two, and unfortunately that has resulted in calls to police.

Despite the calls for service at different locations, she maintains that she lives at 735 Stilwell and has “for my entire life, off and on. I don’t live on Alamo, I don’t live on Quiet Corral. Have I been at those residences? Yes I have.” She said that her parents and her estranged husband’s parents were best friends and she and her brother stayed behind in Port Arthur with the Wise family when her parents left for Colorado when she was a child.

With Election Day just 48 hours away, Wise thinks the attacks on her residency as well as the theft of her campaign signs are campaign scare tactics.

“The people that are running against me are afraid that possibly I’m in the lead, and they’re trying to pull out all the stops for whatever reason, but they’re not going to get anything,” Wise said.

Her opponents, Willie “Bae” Lewis and Derrick Freeman, have both denied any wrongdoing related to targeting Wise’s campaign.

So while Wise maintains that her “handsome” income as CEO of Port Arthur Logistics allows her to pay for multiple family members’ bills, including one in Virginia, and she drives a $30,000 car registered to her husband’s address while her son lives in a $168,000 home; Wise is adamant that her roots are planted in the house she’s called home for the better part of 25 years at 735 Stilwell in Port Arthur.

“I was raised in that house,” Wise said of the house, appraised in 2010 at $37,000 by the Jefferson County Appraisal District. “That’s where I live, so unless I have something else going on, that’s where I’m staying.”

Fred Davis can be reached at 832-1400 ext. 227 or by email at Fred [at] TheExaminer [dot] com.

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